yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Vibrant General] puremalice:
new phone

So I finally said to hell with it. I called TMO support again and I am not sure why I was surprised that they were telling me they are not aware of the issue. Even though I told her to look at my notes that I had called on Monday and spoke to someone who acknowledged the issue.

I took the phone back and exchanged it for another one. As I was in line there was another guy that bought on the same day I did and had the exact same issue.

I was using my tracks walking around my building and on the first phone I was going through walls and walking across freeways. I have to say with the new phone at least since I have had it seems to be fairly spot on. I even tracked my drive home 25 miles and it didn't miss a turn all the way to my front door.

GPStest shows it sees about 12 sats and it was using around 4 of them. Not ideal if you think that my old G1 would see 12 and use 11 but at least the vibrant was using some of them and could get a lock.

I think it is perhaps a random chip set issue and that is why some people are claiming success with the said "fix". I haven't even played with the GPS settings to see if this improves performance and I am running currently completely stock and only using gps without wireless networks.

My advice is to take back your phones. If they want to continue to tell you there is not a problem then just keep returning the device until the realize it is. Of course keep calling as well. I have been with TMO since 1999 and the lady was like "you would change carriers over a GPS problem?" I said "Damn Skippy....acknowledge you have a problem or I will find a phone that works even if it is on another carrier".

Good Luck and I will post if things change with the "fix" settings.
[Vibrant General] cabfeegig:
Does anyone find it strange that the stock SUPL server appears, at least to my un-edicated eyes, to be a test environment/system? Check out http://www.spirentfederal.com/GPS/Test_Solutions/Assisted-GPS/Overview/

Perhaps that is why the stock setup specifies standalone?
[Vibrant General] usery:
Vibrant defective GPS

better yet, post your observations to Twitter and Facebook. More reach/leverage than any phone calls to customer service/tech support.
[Vibrant General] boomerbubba:
These GPS 'fixes' are a bandaid on Samsung's hemorrhage

I don't have the privilige to link, so I will quote verbatim a post by forum commenter haydonxda over at the Samsung Captivate forum here. Users of that AT&T brand of the Samsung Galaxy S are having similar problems with GPS, and rather ignorantly trying the same 'fixes." This commenter there knows what he is talking about:

Using GPS utility apps such as GPS Test or GPS Status that actually measure the GPS performance, the flaws in the Samsung phones are apparent. I did a test of my Vibrant today side-by-side with my old G1 running GPS Status. The G1 blew the Vibrant away.

A flawed GPS is a hard stop on the purchase of an Android phone, at least for my use. My Vibrant is going back. If the manufacturer actually fixes the problem, I may try again. Sad, because I love the phone otherwise.
[Vibrant General] heygrl:
^^ is that news to anyone? I get a 5 meter GPS lock outside but I know it should be a bit better.. these are on stock settings. I'm confident in the fact that Samsung will be fixing this. I just know that my GPS works good enough to be tolerable and to not cause problems with location based services
[Vibrant General] filbertman:
When I first got my G1 2 years ago, it also had a hard time acquiring GPS signals taking over a minute at times (some Tom-Tom navigation systems had that problem several years ago), but T-mo had an update that addressed the issue within a couple months. Hopefully this will be the same with the Vibrant.

In the meantime, this temp. fix has helped me some, but it can still take a while sometimes. Can make driving in a strange city (I travel for work a lot) a bit hairy for a few minutes until it can find my location... not to mention the difficulties finding my location in foursquare...
[Vibrant General] tq745:
I live in hawaii and I had no problems with gps whatsoever. I guess its because not to many people use it here since we live on an island. Hopefully samsung gets this corrected.

Feeling Vibrant on xda-app
[Vibrant General] boodies:
one more thing. For me, the GPS seem to have more trouble locking on during night. It somehow works better in the morning for me.
[Vibrant General] J3ST3RM4A3:
I did the GPS fix on my Vibrant but only using a maximum of 3 satellites. Last night after I did the fix, the most I could use was 2 at any given time.
[Vibrant General] okmft:
This totally works. I was about to take back my captivate, as working GPS is a deal-breaker for me...but this turned a 8-minute wait for GPS into <30 sec wait. Totally workable now!

My favorite step in the instructions was #7! Nice going!!!! :-D
[Vibrant General] nick_karstedt:
Actually, this fix worked for me without #7.
[Vibrant General] heygrl:
It's quite obvious that this is much more of a problem related to the firmware than anything else.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztRJ0N_fkKg - this is with one of the later leaked betas.
[Vibrant General] rontopia:
this is gona sound stupid

this step

Under "Application settings" Change "Operation Mode" to MS Based

I dont know what that means or where it is.
[Vibrant General] okmft:
*charging cable causing GPS problems?

This is crazy...I have tried everything, and sometimes it seems to speed up signal acquisition only to stall out later...then, I tried something I found in Android Forums: http://androidforums.com/samsung-captivate/128026-everyone-who-having-gps-problems.html and it seemed to work, *until I got in my car. When I connected my car charger, the GPS would stall out, only to pick back up again with speed and accuracy when I disconnected the car charger.

Can anyone else replicate this? I tried it about 10 times and was able to replicate the problem every time tonight. If this is really happening, it still is bad because navigation sucks power and charging is important. I was using AT&T car charger (not Samsung-branded) on Samsung Captivate.

Best wishes,

okmft
[Vibrant General] Silrocco:
"SKYHOOK"??

I turned on ShyHook under LbsTestMode/Application Settings/SkyHook/ON and performed a comparison between the GPS Fix: SkyHook OFF and SkyHook ON.

I found that with the ShyHook function ON it performs better, accessing more satellites and the accuracy better as well.

http://www.skyhookwireless.com/howitworks/

Maybe someone can try it and perform their own tests and post their results. :D
[Vibrant General] rontopia:
nevermind I figured it out. I did this "fix" and it does seem to work now.

I was using the google maps to search for something like walmart. when maps found it I would click on the bubble on the map and try to navigate there and my phone was just going out to lunch. with the fix.. i get a lock and voice directions just like i did on my mytouch. so.. it seems to be working.
[Vibrant General] Intervenient:
Fix does not work for me.
[Vibrant General] smeltn:
Did not work for me either on my Captivate
[Vibrant General] granduke:
Found this is another forum. Hope for a firmware fix.
[Vibrant General] RanaGill:
This works great on my At&T Captivate.

Like the other folks i noticed that my location on google maps was not very accurate, I remembered that with my old phone I would show right down to my own house my location. Now with my new Samsung Captivate it was way off, it was showing my location always 100+ plus away from where I really was, this would be annoying for following direction on google maps.

I changed my settings according to the above posts and now it has become very accurate, right down to what part of the building im in when at work.

thanks guys for your help.
[Vibrant General] elkavayo:
Fix did not work for me either.

I have tried every possible combination:

- skyhook on/off

- standalone/MS-Based/MS-assisted

- supl.google.com/default

with skyhook on and MS based the fix is quicker, but using GPS Test app. shows couple of things that are wrong:

- it sees 11 satelites, badly gets a lock on 1 or maybe 2, usually the weakest

- the UTC time is wrong by 5 hours, making the local time wrong as well

When using Speedtest.net app, it says the closest server is in NY, when I'm in Miami. This is my second Vibrant, as I recenty exchanged it because of lose volume key.

The compass is also inaccurate. Google mas is okay for driving, but when stopped (at a traffic light) it shows me going in the opposite direction, then right again, then wrong, until I start moving.

Never had that with a N1.
[Vibrant General] XfooYen:
I posted this in the GPS crashing Maps thread and thought it should be here too. (btw the "fix" did little for me)

Just wanted to add that everyone should report this issue (and ALL others ie. compass, GPS, dropped calls) to T-Mobile and most importantly, Samsung. I am now on hold with Samsung level 3 tech support to update my issues with the phone. The more they hear from us, the more likely they are to come out with proper fixes in a timely fashion. If these issues stay on the forums and nowhere else, we're SOL. Do it now!

UPDATE: Eric, a L3 techie, was very appreciative of the info I gave him regarding the inaccurate GPS, GPS crashing, and compass issues. He did state that these were becoming common complaints. The compass issue was said to be less popular but he was able to reproduce the inaccuracies I and many others have, so that's a good thing. He did not have any info regarding a coming fix on anything. Regarding dropped calls (which could be a radio problem) he said, as I assumed, that it is probably a service issue that T-Mo should be notified of.
[Vibrant General] XfooYen:
Twitter and Facebook users aren't going to fix these issues. No matter how loud the internets is roaring with complaints nothing will get done if Samsung and TMO don't hear about it directly through tech support.
[Vibrant General] zoid_99:
I call T-Mobile today and the first line of suport said that there is a GPS issue and she wanted to transfer me to PDA support.

Once I got to PDA support the tech told me there was NOT a GPS issue and I told him yes there is a GPS issue. He went and got the support centers Vibrant and it refused to lock in. He went and go a MyTouch slide and it locked in immediately.

He said he could send me another one but I had to send min in first and once they got tracking they would send me another one which is BS. Went to the store and they said I had to do it over the phone since I purchased it over the web.

Tempted to just get my money back...
[Vibrant General] heygrl:
You're a flexpay customer? It's not uncommon for there to be a rep that isn't up to date or didn't bother to check for any issues with the phone. People get so hot and bothered over that.
[Vibrant General] kizer:
I have pretty clear sky where I am North of Seattle and I could easily count to 10 and I always get a Sat lock. Of course maybe I'm luckly or its just where I am.

My compass on the other hand is totally useless. It points everywhere.

A few days ago I have 11 sats and I was only locking on to 3.
[Vibrant General] coolguy949:
Posted this on another thread...

Guys, looks like we have some more positive news:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/TMobile?v=wall&story_fbid=418196748894&ref=notif&notif_t=feed_comment

Looks like they might be working on something.
[Vibrant General] XfooYen:
Read the forums before you get everyone excited. T-Mobile made this statement over a week ago stating that they and Samsung are "aware and working on it". Nothing new! It's just hot air until they give a date on OTA fix.
[Vibrant General] larryccf:
there's a report at android captivate forum that AT&T is getting ready to roll out an OTA update specific to the GPS issue

http://androidforums.com/samsung-captivate/133545-official-gps-fix-being-pushed-out.html

i've got fingers crossed this report is true
[Vibrant General] cesarscav:
So, that means that if I have root I'll not getting the update?
[Vibrant General] captain_awesome:
FYI, i posted a reply in the "new GPS fix" thread with another procedure that may work for some other people that are having an issue with their GPS.

i have also found out through the grapevine that our phones will be recieving 2.2 in the next couple of weeks. :)
[Vibrant General] Tetrine:
thank you OP, I'm an iPhone convert with a new Captivate and you just saved me! thanks to all the great people here on xda!
[Vibrant General] mikebarton:
Captivate fix that worked for me

Hi. So I tried the Google server (and port) and also MS Based but nothing would work to get my GPS to lock on this new Sammy Captivate. I tried one other thing I came across somewhere, with a twist. Set to MS Assisted and instead of using a Custom Configuration for supl.google.com or the default setting, I changed it to Auto configuration, which gave a very long server address. I rebooted, fired up GPS test and the phone locked lickety split and had 6+ satellites. Google Navigation locked from inside my house faster than it ever did on my Droid before this new phone. The Droid would lock in OK outside or when driving but no so much in the house. This is with SkyNet on. Anyway, it works for this Captivate user. Try it, frustrated ones.
[Vibrant General] jonathan75:
Thanks, Mike it did help me some. But I can never get a lock on more then 2-3 max. It will see 11 but lock on only two?!? Most of the time it will lock on one that has 0 SNR. Just don't get it.

On another note, if you have the T-Mobile rubber back it will effect reception of the GPS. I did many tests and confirmed this on my phone.
[Vibrant General] larryccf:
are you saying the black gel case degrades radio signal??
[Vibrant General] heygrl:
It makes no change whatsoever. It's silicone people, not metal. If your left hand is covering the GPS/BT/WiFi antenna reception will be affected..
[Vibrant General] larryccf:
actually you don't know that and i'll give some insight why i suspect it might

carbon is used as the black coloring agent in paints & plastics - i don't know about silicone but there's no reason to suspect it isn't as it's the easiest choice. Carbon will conduct electricity as well as shield radio signals. Carbon fiber is beautiful if you want to shield something from EMF or radio signals.

but black paint will degrade radio signals, and i had a suspicion black plastic, rubber or silicone cases would as well.

If jonathan75 confirms that's what he tested, then maybe even removing the rear plastic case will give us some idea if the problem is antenna related or otherwise

PS - for the hey of it, used the signal strength reading under settings > status, i pulled the black plastic case cover off the back

in about 30 seconds, signal went from -111 dBm to -81 dBm then climbed back to -105 dBm - first time i've had a reading here under -94

put it back on, it jumped to -111 dBm again

waited 5 minutes, did it again, this time it dropped to -105dBm

not a lot wrong with a gain in -6 dBm in signal strength

not conclusive but be interesting if others tried it and reported what they saw -

it takes a bit for the new reading to be reflected - i don't think the phone pings the network constantly
[Vibrant General] jonathan75:
It is all about cause and effect. You do a test and look at the results. There is no point in over thinking the hows and whys. I tested it many many times and recorded my findings. I also did the test on a flat surface with no hand involved. As LaVar Burton would say "Don't take my word for it."
[Vibrant General] kiiwi7:
Talked to T-Mobile/software update

Talked to T-Mobile Technical Support this evening and they confirmed the following:

The GPS is a known issue.

There will be a software update for the Samsung Vibrant.

- They cannot confirm the update will address the GPS issue

- They cannot confirm when the update will be available.
[Vibrant General] thunderstruck!:
That sounds more like an Apple response.
[Vibrant General] jamesyl:
All of the variations of the fixes simply change the SUPL server, which is used for AGPS (assisted GPS). For those who are not aware, it takes advantage of your phone's data connection to make a faster lock. The problem with the Galaxy S phones is more severe (supposedly with the Broadcom dedicated unit according to another XDA poster).

Changing the server may get you a faster assisted lock by a few milliseconds or so, but the point is this is still an assisted lock. The Galaxy S is still the final step of the process. In other words, this is a band-aid. I'm wary of any posts that claim that any AGPS related setting results in a complete "fix."
[Vibrant General] tweak89:
None of the current fixes have made much of a long term difference for me. Rebooting the phone seems to have the same effect as these fixes. As soon as I reboot the GPS works fine, for a while. But, even then, I usually only lock on 1 or 2 satellites.

I am at the crossroads with this phone. Today is my last day to be able to return the phone and I am kind of struggling with the decision. Great phone overall, but unlike some, I use the GPS function quite often (as do many apps). Decisions, decisions....
[Vibrant General] cabfeegig:
Has anyone studied any of the log files on their device for clues? There are several (I might add they grow quickly).

Specifically: /data/CGPS_LOG.txt, /data/HALGPS_config.cfg, /data/NAV_DEBUG.txt, /data/NMEA_DEBUG.txt, and /data/gps/secgps.conf?
[Vibrant General] thunderstruck!:
It is starting to sound more like an issue with hardware that has some kind of problems. Software can only do so much-perhaps the new chipset needs some kind of alts to make it work properly. If I am using the GPS and in an area I'm unfamiliar with, I needs full time GPS, not part time GPS. I really liked the phone when I looked at it, but I am a little leery of a company that apparently didn't test the phone out too well.
[Vibrant General] sissykicker:
accuracy still way off

I use my tracks, and before the fix it registered a 2.6 mile run at 3.7 miles. After the fix exactly the same thing. The weird thing for me is that it will be dead on for a while, and then wildly veer off.

My 30 days are almost up, and I'm not gonna trust that Samsung will fix the issue. Mapmyrun was my most used app on the iphone, and MyTracks would be on the Galaxy. So there's no point in my keeping this phone.
[Vibrant General] boomerbubba:
Some of the best black-box analytical work on this issue is being done over in the forum for the international version of the Galaxy S, the I9000. See the investigation by UK user sjdean in this thread, beginning at about post #289 about the logs.

The short answer is that the logs have been looked at but no one has said Eureka yet.

If you read between the lines of all those hundreds of comments, there is some reasonably optimistic news about new firmware and drivers in development by both Samsung and Broadcom, the maker of the BMC4751 GPS chip. But there still is no ironclad assurance that there are no hardware problems as part of the root cause.
[Vibrant General] zoid_99:
http://twitter.com/Samsungservice/status/19861814931
[Vibrant General] thunderstruck!:
To those inquiring about GPS on Captivate or Vibrant, R&D is working hard on this. Thanks for your patience. We'll tweet new info here.^Leah

3:59 PM Jul 29th via CoTweet
[Vibrant General] usery:
tweet from Samsung PR does not a solution/fix make

One tweet from some Samsung Electronics PR hack does not a solution/fix make.

This is the company that was fined $300,000,000 in 2005 for price-fixing, "... the second-largest criminal antitrust fine in U.S. history.." (search web for "Samsung Electronics antitrust conviction"). Do you think they're committed and able to do the right thing, promptly, in the face of what is a chump-change issue for their mobile division?

If the Galaxy S is hardware-defective, Samsung Electronics will apply the same level of integrity as any other for-profit corporation in the face of a costly recall. Think Toyota, but on a smaller scale.
[Vibrant General] larryccf:
actually, toyota is a bad example to be using - toyota has been pretty much exonerated on the acceleration issue - the NHTSA found the majority of instances, where they inspected the black boxes, showed no indication of user applying brakes

and the same agency, since 2002, has had over 20,000 of similiar reports of un-intended acceleration, ACROSS ALL BRANDS, with no unusual population of toyota vehicles in that population
[Vibrant General] KT:
Hi all...

I tried this fix and it does lock in both in navigation and the compass but still took forever to do so and also the accuracy is bad... the navigation was showing my starting point on the next street (i live on 5th and it showed starting point on 6th once and 4th the second time. Any solutions?
[Vibrant General] heygrl:
Disable network based location service?
[Vibrant General] DATRUTH141:
Hopefully this may help some people the way it has helped me. I know the proposed gps fix is not a permanent solution, and i know that for many has left individuals with very inaccurate results. I am one person who applied the fix and then applied the optional fix to get 12 satellites to sjow up on the test. Afterwards i got quick lock ons but inaccurate positioning. Next i changed the port number, the address, and the gps mode all back to the original factory settings. I left the test results the way they were, locking on to ten or more satellites. After rwbooting my phone i have been getting completely accurate gps information as well aa turn by turn navigation without a problem. Hopefully this will help some if not many. Good luck.
[Vibrant General] phonepersonality:
I tried all the GPS fixes (and messed around with a quite a bit of my own) and none of them seemed to work really well.

I decided to go back to the default settings i.e.

Standalone

www.spirent-lcs.com

7275

....Yada yada.

My GPS is locking to 3-4 really quickly now.

Indoors!

Weird :)
[Vibrant General] KT:
I'm sorry i didnt understand your question. Was I supposed to do something besides the steps mentioned in the first post of this thread? Pls expand. Thanks!!
[Vibrant General] tundra84:
Didn't help me much. Although it is pretty fun watching my location icon move around all phantom like XD but seriously, if samsung doesn't fix this issue soon this thing is going back to tmobile...
[Vibrant General] theanalyst:
I tried the fix as well. It was no better than the default. Sometimes the gps works, other times it doesn't. And when the GPS does work, it is slow.
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] pk2:
Anyone Have any ideas? I have a T-Mobile Android g1 and all I have is my ATT sim and an inactive T-mobile sim , dosnt get me very far. I cant get into settings to find EMEI. I wonder how I might weasel my way in. I was thinking maybe I could root with out ever using android interface (to set unknown “sources” and “development). Then maybe do something with adb to retrieve the EMEI. Dunno.

Maybe you know how this could be done or, have an other way…there must be a way.

Thanks Much,

PK
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] HectikDroid:
I believe the EMEI is also in the back of the phone under the battery
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] pk2:
Thanks for the reply. I forgot to mentioned, that that little black sticker under the battery is missing.

Regards, PK
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] labbu63:
hmm call tmobile tell them your going out of country and need the phone unlocked? or give it to me for free(lol just a suggestion)
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] chachi:
Does *#06# typed into the phone show it ?